Drops

Trickle trickle little drops

Falling thru the air

Gentle wind she makes you fickle

Descend without a care

Tell me now your part in nature

From where did you depart?

Sea or lake or stream or ocean,

Renewal is your art.
 
~ "Drops" written on 6/7/2013 by jjphotoftw

Look who came crawling back....

Hi!  Remember me?  At this point probably not... let me reintroduce myself.  The name's Jo and I like knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, cycling, rubber stamping, photography, reading and all types of music.  While I haven't blogged in a long time, and who knows how much time I will find to write now, I have been and will continue to be very active on Instagram.  You can check out my feed by clicking on the widget below.  

 

What's keeping me busy...

I've been working on a lace shawl, or should I say NOT working on it.  It is the Vermont Shawl, which was very nicely gifted to me by a fellow knitsib.  I'm doing the last three pattern repeats now, but they are very long and intricate, so who knows when this will be done. 

Vermont Shawl Pattern Link:

I was able to take a nice bike ride today.  I'm trying to be more active and am fortunate enough to have a lovely rail trail not too far from home.  I can just ride down a short hill to it, it's great!  I did almost 9 miles today, which is pretty good for my first ride on it in a few weeks.  Hoping I can do the whole thing later on this week if the weather holds.

Well, that's about it for now.  I know my life is completely riveting and you obviously can't get through the day without hearing about mine... so I'll try not to wait too long to post again :-)

Behave yourselves...

Have a Kindle? Three Great Blogs for Free Books

I've been doing a lot of reading in what little free time I've had lately.  The beautiful thing (since like most people, I'm watching my wallet) is that most of the books I have been reading I haven't paid a dime for.  Below are three blogs I read that post about bargains or free books available out there.

Books on the Knob - Recommended by my knitsib and fellow Kindle Fire owner, CaughtKnittin, Books on the Knob is a great resource for Kindle users.  They also list deals for the Kobo and Nook as well, so still check it out if you aren't a Kindle owner.  I find the posts really comprehensive and very easy to browse through quickly.  There are short descriptions of the books as well as the publishers they come from.  As an added bonus they even post about any free audiobooks through audible.com.

Pixel of Ink - I just recently started reading Pixel of Ink after it was recommended to me by my friend RisenPhoenix.  This blog is specifically for Kindle users and is similar to Books on the Knob in format, though the updates range a bit more throughout the day rather than all at once.

Kindle Nation Daily - This is another blog I stumbled across recently that again is only for Kindle users.  The format for their updates is a bit longer than the previous two blogs.  There are more reviews and sometimes samples from the books that can be quite lengthy, so if you are looking for more in depth info about the books, you might want to check this one out.

By following all three of these blogs I do see a fair bit of repeat info, but I don't mind.  Someones one will post about something that the other doesn't.  Anyway, that's it from me today... so HAPPY READING! :)

Tour de Fleece Days 4 through 6 - Cape Cod!

In my little corner, happily
spinning away!

So I'm a little behind on the whole posting thing for the tour, but hey, at least I'm spinning!  I started off day 4 spinning with several fellow Tour de Fleece competitors at my usual Tuesday night knit night.  When I spin there I get soooooo much done!  It's nice to only have the distraction of laughter rather than all the normal chores which so easily pull me away from my wheel when I am at home.   I just love my knitsibs!  They are a wonderful group of ladies that sympathize,
I was so on a roll I actually finished up with my 2oz of roving in less than two hours!  It was a good thing too because after I got home, hubbie and I headed to the Cape to spend time with his family for the 4th of July. 

12oz of singles done!

On the 4th we spent the day at the beach where I relaxed in my camping chair and did quite a bit of reading on my Kindle.  I just love having multiple books with me wherever I go.  I don't have a ton of books on there yet, but I have a good selection of fantasy and classical literature, which are two of my favorite genres.  Lately, I've been re-reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind so that I can pick up the second book in the series and continue reading that.  I'm trying to read better quality literature rather than the easy to read romances I have trended towards for the past few years. 

The 5 seconds our sail was going
just fine!

Most recently I read North and South (free Kindle edition) by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell which was written in the 1850's.  I really liked the story, which is a bit like Pride & Prejudice (free Kindle edition), however it took me more than a few chapters to get to the point where I was taking in all that was reading.  The prose is very dense and required my full attention until I got used to it.  Once I got into the mindset though, I flew through the book.  Gaskell has written several other books, which also happen to be free for the Kindle, so I'm hoping to read some more of her work over the summer.  

My first 340 yard 2 ply skein

After beaching it throughout the afternoon and getting some quality time in with our nephew and the extended family, we went back to the house to watch the Pops and fireworks as per usual.  We didn't have the opportunity to see live fireworks due to the 4th being in the middle of the week, but I was content to spin away listening to all the great music performed. 

The next day, hubbie and I went out for a sail on the family's sailboat.  Let's just say that itwas not the best sail we've had and leave it at that... Hopefully the next time we make it to the Cape, sailing will go much more smoothly.  Other than, that I just spent the rest of my time on the Cape spinning away on my roving.  I made tons of good progress and was able to hang out with family and chat at the same time.  All in all, it was a nice little trip.  Hopefully we'll be able to go back very soon!

Tour de Fleece: Day 3 - 6oz of victory!

Just a quick post tonight as it is very late. I've finally caught up on my daily spinning goals!!! I was able to spin another 2.5 oz this evening and now this very full bobbin has 6oz on it. Not too shabby. Now I have a fighting chance of getting it all spun into singles AND plying. It's been a good night! Hope yours was an productive as mine :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tour de Fleece: Day 2

Day 2 Progress - 2.5oz

Today was another pretty full day for me.  I went to go see Pixar's Brave with a couple of good friends after going to church in the morning.  Brave was absolutely awesome!  Pixar does such great work.  There were multiple times in the movie when in some of the wide shots, the animation was so good, the people and scenery looked real!  The storyline, voice acting and music were all top notch as well.  So, if you are itching to go to the movies make sure you check Brave out.  It is a good movie for all ages. 

The title does say Tour de Fleece, so I guess I should talk about spinning huh?  :-)  Unlike yesterday, I got to sit down at my wheel reasonably early in the day and was able to spin for about 3-4 hours altogether, which was really nice.  I got a nice rhythm going and was able to watch Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts as I happily treadled away throughout the evening. That was enjoyable movie number two for the day.  I was on a roll!

While I didn't completely catch up on my spinning goals for both yesterday and today, I did make a ton of progress, spinning about 2.5 ounces in total.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish up the little bit I have leftover from today's bump of fiber and then attack another one :-)

Below are the trailers for the two movies I saw today.  Mirror Mirror is now out on DVD and Brave just started in the theaters last week.

Tour de Fleece: Day 1

I spent most of today with my husband taking care of my friends' 3 month old son, which I might add, was an awesome way to spend a Saturday together :-)  After that we went to my favorite Italian restaurant, Polcari's, for dinner.  We then wended our way back home where I had to sit down to prep some music I'm singing tomorrow.  Finally around 8pm is was time for me to get spinning!

My spinning setup & Dr. Who on Netflix

Day 1 Progress - 1oz

Because I had such a full day, I wasn't able to spin up a whole 2oz bump of fleece as I had hoped.  Nevertheless, I am a happy camper for actually sitting down to get Elphaba, my wheel, up and running and also reclaim my spinner's mojo.   It always takes me a bit of time to get back into the steady rhythm of treadling and drafting, but it's kind of like riding a bike (ha ha ha, Tour de France, do you see what I did there? Yes, I can hear you groaning at my horrible joke) so you don't forget how so much as need to reacquaint yourself with the mechanics of things.

I was hoping to be able to spin my singles pretty thin so I could ply two or three together to get a DK or worsted yarn for the final product.  So far it looks like that might actually happen - HUZZAH!

Anyway, just a quick update for you.  I'm hoping to get way more accomplished tomorrow.  Although, I've got a pretty full day planned again.... /facepalm.  Anyway, g'night!